John Martin Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 (edited) Wel I made my shop's door pull today. It's two RR spikes forge welded together. I also cut the heads off of them.... The finials are leaf styled. Nailed in with hand-forged nails. Reverse twist with slight S curve going down the length. Picture with the white blank...my sister got in it...she's 5, so i took it out. Im shy about my face being on the itnernet, let alone my younger brothers or my sisters who had just looked at the pull. I also made some various tools that I need for around the shop....3 hot chisels, nail header, and some other little things. My problem is that I was able to get real good heads by putting the nail in vise, and making the head. Now, with my nail header, the darn nail just bends even under light blows. I don't know what I am doing wrong with my hammering. Please let me know what I can do to fix that. It's square punched, with a counter punch on underside. Made by following the design in The Backyard Blacksmith. It's annealed, and I made ten nails with it. Well, tried to, they all bent. Thanks for any help im given in advance. The nail header was my brother's project today. I think he did a really good job with it. Picture 1: My weld wasn't complete on the end, and it cracked a little bit as a result of it. However the reverse twist flows very nicely, and I was able to incorporate the crack into the pull. Picture 2: Leaf finial. Picture 3: Complete Pull Sorry about image quality, we are without a camera right now, so I have to use my phone. Need to get a camera. Lol. Edited October 4, 2008 by m_brothers Pictures forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Nice job. It is an original, and it's your work. That makes it special!! As for the slight crack in the forge weld, I get that too, sometimes. Someday I hope to master that. On the nail header, is it tapered from the front, or from the bottom side? I screwed up and made my first one with the taper from the front. Every nail bent and stuck. Now it works better, tapered from the bottom side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 Tapered from the bottom of the hole, that's what the counter-punch was fore, to fix all of that. But I'll see if I didn't do it completely tomorrow. If not, then I'll fix it and see what it does then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Nice pull John. A good way to straighten things like twists with sharp detail without damaging it is with a wooden mallet on a wood block. Done hot of course. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 Okay, thanks Jerry, I'll make a note of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 My pleasure John. Be careful to not use wood that gives off noxious smoke, it's gonna smoke, flame and generally do cool stuff when you lay hot steel on the wood and smack it. Heck, if it were available here I'd pick wood that smells good. Another benefit is the smoke is an extremely reducing environment and a lot of the scale will disappear in the process. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 Oh that's a really cool thing, the smoke and scale. I have just been given a wooden mallet, so I will make good use of it. Thank-You to anonymous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Looks great m brothers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerkid Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Looks Real Good John. Pics of the tools? Please LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 What tools chris??? Sorry, don't know which ones your talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerkid Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 All em you made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabre Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 thats really nice john. I like it and its classic! Hows it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Installed Sabre. So pretty sure it works good. Lol. Well, I am done to one hot chisel. Hmmmm.... maybe time to clean the shop??? Already lost two of 'em in my scattered tools and what not. Lol. But I'll get pictures of the nail header and hot cut tomorrow, all of the hot chisel are the same. But I'll try to find the other two. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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